Premier thrashes opposition motion

Premier McKeeva Bush threw into a waste basket a motion brought by the opposition calling for the government to be more transparent about proposed major development plans during a legislative session on Thursday evening. 

Leader of the Opposition Alden McLaughlin brought the motion asking the government to inform the people of Cayman before committing to or approving any projects likely to have major economic, environmental or social impacts and to undertake and publish objective, independent economic feasibility studies and independent environmental impact assessment studies. 

Mr. McLaughlin cited a number of projects that have been proposed over the past 18 months, including one to dredge the North Sound for a channel and another to create a sea port in East End. Both those projects met with opposition and have since been scrapped. 

He said his motion sought to obtain “an undertaking that, before the government promotes, become involved or supports projects that are likely to have major economic, social or environmental impact, that they will first, in some detail, tell the people of the Cayman Islands what the plan involves and obtain and publish an economic feasibility assessment and an environmental impact assessment. By that I mean truly objective, not someone who is hired by whoever the entity, the firm or individual is who is proposing the project.” 

He added: “These [project] announcements are made well in advance of any indication that any sort of assessment is going to be carried out, let alone an objective assessment about the impact on the environment, about the impact on the society and little is generally known abut any proper evaluation assessments of the economic impact of these projects, it is simply assumed that if there is a major project, it will inure for the good of the people of the Cayman Islands, it seems.” 

Mr. McLaughlin said the practice of entering into ministerial memoranda of understanding, “where the project does not even have the approval of the Cabinet is something that is regarded as very dangerous and runs the risk of committing the country to something without proper discussion, without proper debate, and even without agreement of the whole of the Cabinet and that may well have … implications for the country down the road, reputation implications. The project subsequently goes off the rails because it loses the support of the government.” 

Mr. Bush has signed ministerial memoranda of agreement with China Harbour Engineering Company to build and enhance cruise facilities, and announced plans to sign another one to establish an oil refinery in Cayman. 

Responding to the motion, Premier Bush accused Mr. McLaughlin and the rest of the previous administration’s Cabinet of signing a deal that was “done in secrecy” in 2009 with developer Michael Ryan in which “they gave all kinds of concessions … nine points of reductions or waivers of duty – millions of dollars – 10 per cent on all residential construction, 10 per cent for eight years from the date of execution of the main agrement, and on and on”. 

He said the agreement included the removal and reconfiguration of the shoreline of the whole project, adding “that man had the audacity now to … outrightly practically accuse the government of not doing the right thing”. 

The premier said Mr. McLaughlin and his government, when they were in power, had failed to do economic or environmental impact studies on the Ryan deal. 

Motion binned 

“I intend to do with this motion what I ought to do, tear it up and put it in the waste paper basket,” he said, calling on the Serjeant at Arms to bring a dustbin to his desk so he could put the document into it. 

“That’s where it goes – in the waste paper basket,” he said. 

He defended the UDP’s government’s actions in dealing with proposed projects, saying “What the government has done in most instances is sign a memorandum of understanding, that is to negotiate, to discuss various items that would become an agreement and, once we reach the end of those discussion, then there must be a cost analysis if the government is going to give away something, and an environmental impact assessment if government is going to agree to dig or remove any aspect of the Queen’s Bottom [sea bed].” 

He insisted that the projects would ultimately go before Cabinet and any agreement that was reached would have the proper authorisation. “I don’t sign any MOU that is not briefed with ministers and … when an agreement is about to be signed, then that will go to Cabinet. I have never done anything in this country by my own, not that we don’t agree, but we always have a majority,” he said. 

“We are not going to support this [motion] because this is just being political and nasty and just as dirty as you can be. We are trying in everything we are doing to try to turn this economy around and we will do it legally and correct,” Mr. Bush said. 

In his closing comments on his motion, Mr. McLaughlin, describing the premier’s response as a “rant”, said: “As we have all sadly come to know, any time anyone suggests anything which the premier believes might somehow prevent him from exercising his almighty power and judgement without any regard to anything or anyone, he becomes as he just did, ripping up a private member’s motion and calling on the Sergeant to bring a waste paper basket to dispose of it.’ 

Mr. McLaughlin defended agreements signed during his party’s term in office, saying that, unlike ministerial memoranda of agreement signed by the premier, those agreements had the approval of Cabinet. 

“I don’t know who developed the ministerial memorandum of understanding. I heard it’s because there are ministers in his Cabinet who don’t agree. He [the premier] signs on behalf of the ministry he has responsibility for,” he added.  

The motion was defeated, three votes to seven, with four absentees.